1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method and apparatus for controlling access to or from a parking facility. The premises of the parking facility are combined with an associated retail or other sales facility. A gate or equivalent barrier to control entry to or exit from the parking facility is opened by passing merchandise purchased at the sales facility across a sensor. When the sensor detects indicia or equivalent encoded data that identifies the merchandise as having been available for sale at the sales facility, the barrier, which is normally closed, is automatically opened.
2. Description of Related Art
Retail and other sales facilities open to the public or to relatively large numbers of potential patrons must frequently provide parking to the patrons. In some cases, a parking facility is merely a paved or unpaved lot offering unrestricted access to a public road. However, in areas where real estate is expensive, or where construction of a parking facility entails burdensome costs to the owner or operator of the sales facility, it may not be feasible to provide unlimited access to the parking facility.
Various practices for providing parking to patrons of sales facilities are known. In one scheme, entry is unrestricted, but egress is permitted by personnel staffing an exit gate. Patrons leaving the parking facility after completing purchases are required to display sales receipts, vouchers, or similar evidence of being bona fide, paying patrons.
Some parking facilities have automated egress control. That is, the gate or barrier preventing egress is operated by a data bearing device, such as a magnetically encoded card which is inserted into a card reader. Recognition of the encoded card results in opening of the barrier. A number of variations of this concept exist. For example, in place of an encoded card, a keypad is provided at the exit gate. A patron punches a pre-arranged code, such as an identification number or alphanumeric code, to effect opening of the gate.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,637,920, issued to Glen S. Stratton et al. on May 12, 1953, exemplifies a parking facility in which entry is uncontrolled and egress is controlled. U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,859, issued to Johann Farmont on Mar. 12, 1996, describes access by a card reader.
Schemes for automatically reading a data record borne upon a motor vehicle are utilized by some municipalities to control passage of traffic. In most cases, the purposes of such schemes are to allow authorized entry, or to expedite passage through a municipally managed toll gate.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the present invention as claimed.